Our Princesses

Patrick had his 33rd birthday this week. He is an old man now! But he still has a few more good years in him. We loved being so close to him to bug him all day. Birthdays are not just another day! We decorated the house and put a sign up at his work. We even went to work with him for a little bit. For dinner we had G-ma & G-pa watch the kids so we could go to Mo' Bettah Steaks. That place is so yummy and I don't even eat meat!

I just had to put these pictures in of my "Little Princess" (Patrick is the Big Princess) She is just growing up so fast. These blue eyes just melt my heart.

Benton's Birthday!

Benton had the funnest birthday party!! He had a whole carnival. There was a huge bouncy house, a cotton candy machine, popcorn, snow cones, games, prizes, and a whole lot more!

Honestly I felt like it was my birthday. It was a dream come true to make my own cotton candy!

Guess Who's 2?!

On July 23rd GK turned the big 2 years old!! I can't believe how fast he's grown up. He is so much fun! He is really talking a lot lately. He is so much fun to watch playing "sports" he can drop kick a ball better than me and for sure shoot the hoops better than I can. He loves his little sister, it's amazing that adapting was so easy for him. Gk is so curious and a typical 2 year old. He hates shopping but does really well ( I often bribe him.. said I never would!). He gives the BEST kisses! He still takes naps, usually 3 hours! He is a super good eater most of the time, sometimes he is too busy playing. I just LOVE this little man!

On his birthday we took him to The Original Pancake house. Of course Jenn & Brandon came, it wouldn't be the same without them. Gk got the smiley face pancakes.

He had a lot of fun there. He loved riding his bike around.

We stopped at the store then went home for a nap. He says "Happy day" for Happy birthday. When we put him down it totally broke my heart, he was in bed crying saying,"happy day, happy day" while he was jumping around. But he really needed a nap!

We had a party at the park by Lyndsey's house. It is a really fun park, and no one is ever there. We of course, had lots of candy. Gk was just happy to play with all his cousins.

The poor kid was throwing ice and bumped his elbow against the hot charcoal grill. I'm sure he has 3rd degree burns on his elbow, but the grill was really clean and it looks really good. There is an imprint of a phillips head screw . I am so glad it wasn't very deep and not on his hands or feet. He forgot about it being on his elbow.

We had a pinata, I think this was the first time he understood (kinda) what was going on. He didn't want anyone else to use his bat, he got really mad! But when the candy came out it was the cutest thing ever! He got SO excited, jumped off my lap and ran for it shouting "CANNY" (he so takes after me!) He got way too many presents and we had so much fun.

And on the same day Bentley turned 1 month old! She is changing so much. She holds up her head really well and is so patient with us. We are so lucky to have these 2 kids and we are very very grateful!

Bentley Ann

Last Wednesday I went to the dr. for my weekly check-up. I was sure that I was still dilated to a 3 and I'd wait and have the induction scheduled. But the dr. said I was at a 5 and he sent me down to labor & delivery! Patrick got there really fast, but there was still a bit of waiting. They broke my water at 1:00 and we had our beautiful baby girl at 4:26. The epidural slowed me down a little but I only felt 1 contraction (and it wasn't very bad). The whole process was amazing. It didn't seem real.

There has been some debate over the name. Patrick really likes Piper, and I really like Bentley. We went back and forth for months really but on her birth day I knew she was Bentley. Patrick almost changed it without telling me (he filled out the paper work)! But his conscience got the better of him and we changed it back to Bentley. But Patrick still calls her Piper and that is fine with me. They have a special bond!

Bentley Ann

6 lbs. 12 oz.

19 1/2"

She is such an angel and we are so happy that she is well and healthy.

We only stayed 1 night in the hospital because I was a little antsy to get home to GK. I missed him so much even though the rest would have been nice I'm glad we went home a little early.

birthdays!

It seems like it's been a while since we've had a birthday party. But maybe it's just been a while since I've taken pictures at one.

Aunt Shell's house is so much fun. She has kittens, dogs, snakes, birds, and kids!! Gk never wants to leave. He held a bird for a second, but it freaked him out. He really liked it, until he saw a ball! I just love this little boy.

Jabba-what!

Lyndsey's birthday is coming up and she surprised us with tickets to The jabbawockeez. It was so much fun! They didn't allow cameras and I was really bummed, mostly because you should have seen what the kids are wearing these days. ( I am SO not hip, and I didn't realize how bad I was until this weekend!) I could people watch for hours. The place was packed and they put on a really good show. If you've never seen them you should check them out on You tube.

After we went to The CheeseCake Factory for dinner. It was SO good. We were all starving too. Nobody really wanted to go home (except Lyndsey but it isn't like it was her actual birthday!) so we went to the soccer game up in Woods Cross. It was the funnest game yet! They were up 8 to 2 and they all really wanted Patrick to score a goal. Every time someone got the ball they would pass it to Patrick and hope that he would score. He came SO close so many times. He said when he does score a goal he will take off his shirt and do a lap around the soccer field.

Oh, and speaking of people watching, the soccer games are such a good place too!

Patrick's Belated Birthday!

So Patrick had the most amazing birthday ever, but he is the princess of his family so he had a big birthday party!! We all love Patrick's birthday because he gives everyone a present... Not the gift of knowing him, he really finds a present for everyone who comes! It may just be a cheesey poster from all a dollar but it is so much fun! We all love you Patrick!! Oh the cast is on Patrick's Mom's leg. As Patrick would say.. "It sure sucks getting old!"

Jenn's Birthday!

Jenn's Big Day was on Sunday!! Wahoo! I just LoVe Birthdays. We celebrated on Saturday by playing with Jenn's new Cricut! They are SO fun! Then we went shopping up in Park City, there wasn't a whole ton. I think the stores are waiting until black Friday to have the killer sales. Jenn did get a really cute shirt at Banana Republic. We then headed to Alberto's which Jenn always talks about. She loves this place and I totally see why. They are downtown, really clean, yummy mexican food. In Jenn's hand in the picture she is holding pepper spray! After we went to our house to watch Star Trek, which Jenn, GK, and I all slept through but the guys really liked it. Thanks for letting us share in your birthday bash Jenn! I still think we should have gone to Vegas though!

Last year of "Youth"

Well I am officially 29 years old. I just LOVE my Birthday and I had so much fun, it may have been more of GK's birthday, but his birthday was more for me so I thought it was only fair! We had a party with my Mom & Dad on Sunday night. Wendi's family and Randal were so sweet to encourage my indulgence. My Dad made my favorite-his grilled salmon, and there was so much good food and delicious cake and ice cream. I will have to get some pictures from Wendi. On the morning of The big day we started the morning out right with cupcakes for breakfast.

We took Patrick his sunglasses he had left in the car and he took us to lunch at the Olive Garden. I love that place. Then it was off to the Discovery Gateway center. GK loved this place, I think he needs to be around kids a little more because he seemed more interested in them at first. He loved the small town, they have a construction zone, a house with a lawn-mower, a post man, a few police cars, a park area, a farm, a small store, and a water area. His fav. was the park area, it was for kids 3 & under and they had some slides and toys that were just his size.

Then we headed to the state capitol, I really wanted to see the U.S.S. Utah. It was sunk in the Pearl Harbor attack. Patrick and I saw the sight when we went there a few years back. I don't know what I was thinking, I thought they would have a huge replica of the ship there or something. There were mostly just pictures and only a few artifacts. I was a little disappointed with the exhibit, but the building is so beautiful. It brought back a lot of memories of prom. My Mom met up with us here and we walked around for a bit. Then we went to the O.C. Tanner building (use to be the Hansen Planetarium-where Patrick & I went on our first date!) They spent 24 million in remodeling. It was a beautiful building but honestly I can't tell the difference between that and the jewelry at Wal-mart!

We walked over to the Lion House Pantry for a quick treat. I wanted to go on the tours but we had run out of time. The girl that worked there gave me a free cookie for my birthday! Then we headed home. That drive was the only nap poor GK got all day, he was so tired he fell asleep within about 2 blocks.

Jenn, Brandon, and their nephew Boston came to Pirate Island with us to celebrate my birthday! It was decorated SO cute! Patrick was worried about the swine flu but it seemed pretty clean. The food was okay we just got the pizza because most people around us were eating that. So we ate and played games all night! It was so fun to have Boston there. I hope he had fun!

Thanks everyone for the Super Fun Birthday!!

Cumplianos Feliz

Last Sunday was Brandon's big 32nd Birthday! On Saturday night after a long day of Fishing for Brandon and Patrick Jenn and Brandon came over for a Fiesta!! We had dinner and I ate all the caramel popcorn that Jenn made for the movie. Brandon broke his pinata filled with yummy candy (not the cheap stuff ). Even D'Ohgee and Yogi got a piece. I tried to get a picture of D'Ohgee with the sucker stick hanging out of he mouth but she ate it all up too fast! Then we watched Taken in the hot tub! It was so fun we totally have to do that again, but I had to get out after a while. G.K. just loves Brandon, he picked out the gold chain for him!It was really late when we were all done and we were SO tired, there were a list of other things we wanted to do still like roast marshmallows for S'mores and play dominoes but maybe next time! Jenn and Brandon camped out in the backyard in their pop-up trailer. That thing is so nice. It's fun to go camping especially in the back yard!

 On Sunday morning Patrick and Brandon made breakfast. It's a good thing they did because I always burn french toast. It was so yummy. There was so much food! We were so happy that Brandon and Jenn could let us join in on their birthday celebration!

 

Another Party!

 

 

We had another Party on Saturday night to celebrate all the July and August birthdays! It was so much fun. We had so much good food I think I will be full until next year! After Patrick and Garret put on an awesome firworks show! We celebrated Scott, Garret, Dyllan, Maddie, Benton, and G.K. 

It Takes A Village!

Last Wednesday Juli was in town and we decided to take the kids to 7 Peaks.  Juli's M.I.L. Kathy was able to come too and Taya and Seth. Kathy was so much fun to have there. G.K. just loved her! Kaycee was really cute with him too. I forget what a big girl she is. Both Kaycee and Jackson are really good swimmers. We all loved the wave pool and the lazy river. It was fun to play with the big kids while Kathy and G.K. played. I think he mostly pushed his stroller around and around. I wanted to stay later but we had big plans of getting ready for G.K.'s big party!!

Patrick hasn't liked our deck for a while and we've gone back and forth with fixing it up or pouring concrete.. Well the day before the party we got our concrete poured! So needless to say we needed some serious help! Brandon came and helped Patrick load up a ton of dirt and Jenn was so sweet and made us dinner (we don't deserve them at all!!). I needed some help decorating cupcakes which I hadn't even made all of them yet, but Jenn was really patient with me. Vickie also helped me with my first real cake!! I was so nervous and I really think it would be fun to take some classes. It was so hard to get the color just right. Did you know the color brown is almost impossible to make. Unless of course you don't want brown! Brandon (who owns a painting company.. he deals with colors a lot!) got on the computer and found out about Cocoa powder!! If you only knew how long it took all 5 of us to figure that out!!

 

On Wednesday it was my big boys birthday!! I really can't believe he's one! This last year has flown by. We had a lot to do and I had to run downtown to get my packet for the 24th DesNews marathon. We met Kathy, Juli, Kaycee, and Jackson at the old Delta Center and Kathy got G.K. a cute Jazz ball that he loves to chew on! I thought they would have a cool expo but they didn't so we met Gerald and went to lunch at Crown Burger. G.K. really liked Crown burger, their fries are really good! I let him push his stroller around the parking lot before we headed home.

 

When I got home I had so much to do! Vickie and Lyndsey came early to help me set up. Patrick was upset because he couldn't get any sod for where the machines had ripped up our grass (this maked 4 times we'll have put down sod in our back yard :>) We tried to get G.K. to take a nap but he knew there was something going on so he wasn't having it at all

Okay so I really didn't think about his party.. I had it at 5:30 on the hottest day of the year!! It was blazing hot! So we had the "Hillbilly Hot Tub" up and running. We had a bouncy house and some tunnels. The best thing was the shade. I didn't want to get out from under it! G.K. wasn't quite himself because he was kinda tired but he warmed up after a minute

There were a lot of people there. We were so glad that so many people care about our little guy! He got so spoiled with presents!! We really just wanted to throw a party for him. The first time we went to Hawaii our kayak tour guide told us that for the first birthday they throw a big luau for the baby and people don't bring presents they just surround them with people that love them. That was the idea..

I knew better!! We all sang Happy Birthday to Garrison and he didn't really touch the cake. so Patrick told me to show him how to dig in... Well he got the hint! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!  Amidst all the hustle and bustle I forgot that we had tons of candy for all the kids and leis for everyone and a veggie tray.  We had such a great time though. We feel so blessed to have this little guy. 

Party!

 

G.K. took his first step on Thursday, June 4th! He still isn't a "walker" but he walks more everyday and he is getting more confidence. He's had a few falls and I am not ready for him to be walking so we aren't pushing him too much. It is so fun to watch him learn and grow.

But the big story is Boston turned 1!! He is so handsome and such a sweetie!He was sharing his birthday cake with G.K. And G.K. got to meet Avery and he absolutely Loved her! She is such a doll. She has the cutest poses. G.K. always wanted to be touching her and he wanted to play with whatever she had. They kept fighting over the water bottles. It was so fun to have them all together, they are so close in age! G.K. is the bald one. I can't believe how much hair both Boston and Avery have. They are adorable!

 

We had a really yummy dinner and we went swimming (Thank Heavens the weather cooperated with us so we could swim!) Boston got a lot of really cool presents! G.K. loved this blue tunnel. He kept going back and forth through it with the biggest Grin on his face! We had such a good time! It was G.K.'s first friend party and we had so much fun, we will definitely have to play some more!